Jason Queally

Jason Paul Queally (born 11 May 1970) is an English track cyclist. He won a gold medal at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney.

Early years

Born at Great Haywood, Staffordshire, Queally spent his childhood in Caton, a village near Lancaster. He attended Caton County Primary School and Lancaster Royal Grammar School, where he was part of the swimming squad in the mid-1980s, later representing Lancaster and British Universities in water polo while a student at Lancaster University, where he earned a BSc in Biological Science. He took up cycle-racing at 25.

In 1996, he nearly died in an accident at Meadowbank cycling track in Edinburgh (Chris Hoy brought down all the riders behind him, having caught the wheel of Craig MacLean) when an 18-inch sliver of the wooden track entered his chest via his armpit. The accident seriously affected Queally's confidence in tactical racing; as a result, he no longer took part in the sprint events, instead choosing to dedicate himself to Kilo and team sprint riding, time trial events with a reduced risk of crashing.

Post Sydney Queally was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2001 New Year Honours for services to cycling.

In October 2001 he competed in the World Human Powered Speed Challenge at Battle Mountain, Nevada on the Blueyonder recumbent bicycle, built largely from carbon fibre by Reynard Motorsport to a design by Chris Field. Queally maintained over the 200m timed section of the course, a European record. The winner, Sam Whittingham, achieved .

Although Olympic champion, Queally was not selected for the 1 km time trial at the 2004 Summer Olympics, competing only in the team sprint, in which Great Britain team was eliminated in the first round by Germany, the eventual winner, despite posting the second fastest time of the competition.

In 2009, Queally was inducted into the British Cycling Hall of Fame.

Queally retired from able-bodied cycling after failing to qualify for the 2008 Summer Olympics. He subsequently worked with Paralympic cyclist Anthony Kappes with the aim of competing together on a tandem at the 2012 Summer Paralympics. However he returned to able-bodied competition when he received a call up to the British squad for the 2010 UCI Track Cycling World Championships.

Medals in championships Olympic Games 2000 Gold, 1km time trial Silver, team sprint World Championships 2005 Gold, team sprint Silver, 1 km time trial 2004 Bronze, team sprint 2003 Bronze, team sprint 2001 Bronze, team sprint 2000 Silver, team sprint Bronze, 1 km time trial 1999 Silver, team sprint Commonwealth Games 2006 Silver, 1 km time trial Silver, team sprint 2002 Silver, 1 km time trial Silver, team sprint 1998 Silver, 1 km time trial